A Road Trip Flick from Across the Pond

British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom is anything but predictable. From documentaries to mockumentaries, from indie rock porn to a drama starring Angelina Jolie, Winterbottom keeps it interesting. 

" The Trip," a feature film edit of a six episode BBC series with Steve Coogan ( "Happy Endings", "Hamlet 2") and Rob Brydon (dozens of UK TV series) is his latest effort to delight, amuse and maybe even confuse. Having shared the screen in other Winterbottom films including "24 Hour Party People" and, my favorite, "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play Steven Coogan and Rob Brydon – or at least some UK Bizzaro World Seinfeldian scripted version of themselves. 

Coogan’s on assignment for the Observer to tour the finest North England restaurants and inns. Having just gone on a “break” with his younger American girlfriend and after asking several other people, Coogan gets his old friend, “stunningly accurate” impressionist, Rob, to tag along to serve as company, collaborator and punching bag.

Faced with the choice of playing a Dr. Who “baddie” in his home country and a cable series in the US, Coogan is torn between life in overcast England and sunny L.A. He digs into his English roots while challenging and insulting Brydon in a series of comedy duels over haute cuisine. As they eat their way through the North, Coogan also sleeps his way through various women which comes off as sad and desperate rather than suave.  

The road trip is also peppered with awkward cell phone conversations made from various bucolic places with terrible reception. Whether Coogan is speaking with his girlfriend, ex-wife, agents or delinquent son, these conversations only magnify his disconnection with his intimates. His American agent screeches, “It’s a good time to be Steve Coogan!” and though he’s tasted enough of Hollywood to make him act like a prick, Steve still has some good left in him. Maybe the “real” Steve Coogan is glimpsed in the few but poignant moments when he’s not acting like an entitled jerk. 

At its core, "The Trip" is about performance. These two men perform versions of themselves and it doesn’t really matter how accurate those portrayals are since the impressionists are imitating themselves. What a delicious set up.

It might be a tough sell for American audiences however. There are a few UK pop culture references that simply don’t play here in the US and most of us Americans are not privy to the long friendship and TV collaborations of these two venerable British comedians. Brydon indulges in dramatic recitations of Wordsworth and Coleridge, something that American comedians tend to shy away from for some reason.

The highlights of the film are the impression battles, particularly those of Michael Cane, James Bond(s) and Woody Allen, which are both boisterous and masterful.  Oddly enough, Brydon’s Al Pacino is subpar.

Coogan’s stabbing insults never detract Brydon from beating a bit or impression to death. Brydon has an undying spirit and love for comedy that Coogan lost years ago in his quest for Hollywood greatness or at least indie street cred.  Coogan, who laments that “Michael Sheen is the albatross around my neck,” is self-centered, career-obsessed and quite lonely. He's also, like his father (or the dude that plays him in this movie), obsessed with old-fashioned map navigation. Brydon is a jester, a joyous spirit immune to negativity with a Vaudevillian aura.

These versions of Coogan and Brydon ring true enough that when a melancholy piano queues the viewer to feel badly for how dreadfully charmed Coogan’s life is, it still feels like carefully crafted fiction and not a documentary gone awry. Winterbottom achieves authenticity through capitalizing on his subjects’ fame, but surprises with their willingness to come off badly at times. 

There is a clear distinction between these old friends at the end – a content, yet less famous, family man vs. the sympathetic fame-whoring ass. Although a bit long and repetitive at times (clearly that is a result of editing several TV shows into a movie), "The Trip" is at once silly, pretentious, pensive and rollicking. Winterbottom continues to quietly fascinate and amaze with his latest film that is definitely "worth the trip.”

" The Trip" is  now playing at the Ritz V, 220 Walnut Street in Philadelphia.

For more of Megan Carr’s movie reviews and media musings, visit her website at therestiscreamcheese.com.

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